"Woah...so no one's ever been to this continent before?" Molokidan said, his eyes wide in curiosity. "That's kinda scary! I wonder what we'll find there? What kind of things are you guys hoping for, anyway?"

"Oh, there've been expeditions before. But thay've been few and far between. As far as what we'll find, your guess is as good as mine. Marya here's the only person I've come across who's been to Hastel herself, and her group didn't get very far inland."

The conversation was interrupted by a man in rather nattier threads than the majority of the crew coming over, "Well, Mister Jaskin, if that's everyone, it's about time we were away. Don't want to miss the tide."

"By all means, captain, by all means."

"Right, lads!" the captain called, striding for the bridge, "Cast off, and be ready on the sails soon as we're clear o' the docks."

The mechanics of towing the Starling out far enough for her to raise her sails were liable to take a while, but they were on their way.

"Somehow, I doubt an experienced ship crew is going to need our help in sailing." stated Yan Yan. "We're just here for when we get there. Until then, the best thing that we can do is likely just stay out of the way."

Yan Yan was quite right - the crew seemed quite capable of managing on their own. For Devast's part, there wasn't an awful lot of exploration to be done. Starling was a two-masted ship, built for long hauls over speed. There was a fair bit of deckspace, but its restrictions would likely become all too familiar to him as the voyage wore on.

Molo, in his enthusiasm, managed to run full-tilt into a large piebald nekojin. It was sort of like running into a brick wall, except that brick walls don't normally give you an annoyed look when you hit them.

The nekojin kept the look up for a few moments, then pointed towards the rear companionway. This made a certain amount of sense - you'd expect the galley to be below decks. On the other hand, maybe he was just trying to get the overenthusiastic sushijin out of his hair...

Molokidan backed up quickly, his eyes stuck on the frowning nekojin. After a few minutes of standing straight up in frozen horror, he decided he was safe and continued in his mad sprint down below deck.

Loake had been standing on the deck of the ship scince it had begun moving, and one may have heard him muttering about how it reminded him of "The good old days". That is, until Ake's comment about Yan Yan got his attention once again.

"Oh, I'm sure there's people more sarcastic. And more clever. And more intelegent. I'm sure there's people that can beat her out at just about anything she does, except wearing goofy looking masks."

"On the other hand..." began Yan Yan, grinning undetectably under her mask. "...I'm not so sure that anyone would be able to beat you in envy, jealousy, and unoriginality."

With that, she stood and went below deck. She had no real urge to give him a chance to respond, and she certainly didn't want to bother explaining what was under the mask. It would take too long, and she wasn't entirely certain that someone of his limited capabilites would even be capable of understanding.

Molo's search for the galley didn't encounter any further difficulties. It was a small, somewhat cramped room dominated by a large stove. Within, a short, slightly chubby man was tending a pot of stew.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot," Jaskin said to those still within earshot, "There are a some free cabins below decks. Two berths in each, so you may want to work out who you'd like to share with."

For Yan Yan's part, it didn't take long to get an idea of the ship's layout below decks. Aft was the galley and storage lockers, with a common area for the crew and access to the hold amidships, and cabins forward. With the exception of the captain's cabin, of course, which was below the bridge on deck level.

Marya chuckled at this, "That's a new one. Wanting to share a room with a woman so you can get a look under her mask." She shook her head in feigned astonishment at the duplicity of men, "Unless she objects, I think the two of us will be sharing."

Shortly after finding the location of the cabins, Yan Yan was able to discover from the crew the same information that Jaskin had just given to those on deck. She quickly claimed whichever room seemed the cleanest, stowing her belongings inside. She layed down to rest for the moment -- anyone who needed to would likely be able to find her down here, she would be out of the way of the crew, and most importantly, she figured that she had irritated the winged idiot enough for one day.

"WOO!" Molokidan dashed over to the stewpot, standing on his tip-toes to get a glimpse of what was inside. "That smells good!" he shouted, turning to stare at the pudgy cook. "So whatcha making, anyway, man? The name's Molokidan S. Tunksuu, food-eating connoiseur! If you have any questions about what sort of good-tasting food to make, be sure to ask me, okay!"

"Chi....chicken stew?!" he said, thoroughly inspecting the pot on the stove. "Is that all we're having? But we're on the sea! I mean, don't we have any fresh fish, or anything? I'm really good at making sushi, you know!"

With that, Molokidan began to move from the stove to another side of the room, searching around for some sort of boxes or something containing fish. "What's your best dish? Also, what's your favorite fruit? Mine's oranges!"

"Well, we'll be onto a diet of fish soon enough. We use up any stuff like chicken early on. Doesn't keep, you see. Far as my best dish goes... Well, I'd have to say it'd be my steamed fish."

Oddly, Molo didn't find much in the way of fish or meat, though there were various herbs and spices, some potatoes, and fresh fruit and vegetables. There was, however, a large cupboard to check which looked promising.

After giving the herbs, potatoes, and fruit a good sniff and check-over, Molokidan's eyes were quickly drawn to the large cupboard, even before he could contemplate stealing some fruit for a late-night snack later on.

"I can't wait to sample your fish!" he shouted, before running over and yanking the cupboard open.

Devast was not about ready to believe Yan Yan's comment about the crew not needing help. It was a sailing ship and who knows what went wrong on these.

After exploring the upper part of the ship, Devast went below decks. He was going to look into those cabins Jaskin had mentioned. And if he could find one closer to the port side of the boat he'd take it.

There was always something wrong with the right side of things to Devast. It wasn't something he easily understood, nor something he put any thought into. In any event, this never came into his mind. It was time for him to be off of his feet.

Well, it seemed that what Molo had found was not, in fact, a cupboard. Instead, there was a ladder behind the door leading down into the hold. Chilly air wafted out.

"Now that," the chef said, in tones of some pride, "Is the cold storage. Not many ships with one of those. Hate to think what the captain paid that mage for it, but it's a real godsend."

Devast didn't have any trouble tracking down and laying claim to a cabin on the port side of the ship. He even got a berth on the left hand side of the cabin. The place was fairly small, but comfortable. It would get cramped if he had to spend a lot of time in it, of course, but there was plenty of space on deck.

By now, Starling had cleared the docks, and was moving out of the harbour under light sail, rowboat left behind.

Molo's mouth watered a bit, and he quickly wiped some drool off his chin. "Wow, that sounds so good!!!" he said. "So, do you need any help in the kitchen or anything? I'm really fast, so I can go get whatever ingredients and things you need!"

"Sure thing, kid," the cook said cheerfully, "Can always do with an extra hand."

At length, everyone got around to stowing their gear in a cabin, settling in for the voyage. The weather held fair, and Starling progressed on a southeasterly course out of the Val'ri sea. Captain Casper had evidently decided to give Barius and Forfeit Isle a wide berth, given current tensions, and no one seemed inclined to contest this decision.

For the most part, the crew were in good humour, the one notable exception being the frequent verbal sniping between Yan Yan and Loake. Whether the two would be able to put aside their differences for the expedition itself was an open question, and scuttlebutt had it there was a pool going on who would snap first and when. The smart money was apparently on Loake.

If Marya had gotten a look under Yan Yan's mask, she was keeping whatever she'd seen to herself.

It was late morning on the third day, shortly before the course change north was due, that a cry went up of "Sail to starboard!" It was a cry that had been heard a couple of times before, with no great drama resulting. Still, there was a general air of interest as people watched the distant sail.

Marya was an elf. Typically, elves were known to have stronger values and traditions than most, if only due to the fact that they lived for a considerable amount of time. In this way, those on the ship could be fairly certain that if anyone was allowed a glimpse of what was under the mask, it would be Marya.

Not that she caught a glimpse. It seemed that Yan Yan was fond of only taking the mask off in shadowy corners, facing the walls.

"Oh, did you? I bet your mother would be quite proud of that!" she shouted behind herself as she emerged from below decks. Presumably, she was responding to a comment that Loake had made. Over the past few days, things had gone from contemptuous and mean-spirited to mere playful word mincing, merely seeing who could come out on top of a battle of wits. At least, that's how Yan Yan saw it. How Loake saw it was completely irrelevant to her. It could just be that he was an idiot.

Ake was on the deck, sitting crosslegged on a towel and preparing to slip into a trance when he heard Loake's comment and Yan Yan's retort. He chuckled under his breath - he'd realized by this time, after all, that any hate the two had had for eachother was gone, and replaced by an elaborate quest for one-upmanship. It's entertaining, really, Ake thought as he let the tension from his exercises drain out of his muscles.

"As a matter of fact," Loake said, "She probably would have been. I mean, I managed to live my whole life without wearing a cheesy looking mask."

Over the last few days, Loake could've been found standing on the deck of the ship, letting the wind flow through his hair and wings. Normally, his hands were in his pockets, and in what could be considered a strange twist for the former bandit, he seemed deep in thought.

As Ake had just begun to start his meditation, he heard approaching footsteps, followed by the shrill voice that he had heard a few days ago.

"Hey there!" Molokidan shouted. By the incredibly loud sound of his voice, it was almost as if...as if the kid was standing right next to him, shouting into his ear! "What are you doing? That's a dangerous place to sleep, you know! What if you fall into the ocean?"

Ake started when he heard Molokidan's voice, and opened his eyes. "I'm meditating, Molokidan. I'm too far from the edge of the deck to fall off. Could you please go talk to someone else? I need it to be quiet."

On the bridge, the captain was directing a telescope at the distant ship, a slight frown on his face.

"Problem?" Oswald asked, noting his preoccupied expression.

"Aye. Ship looks a bit suspicious to my mind. No sign of a flag flying, and they're on an intercept course with us." Neil came to a decision, "I think we'll make our course change a mite early. See what he does."

Oswald nodded. It wasn't as if he had any nautical expertise to bring to bear, but it was good of him to keep him informed.